


For Tonight and Forever

by Night_Hawk94



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017), bughead - Fandom
Genre: 3x16, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Jughead needs Betty, Love, Love Confessions, Oneshot, Shameless Smut, Smut, missing moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 09:12:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18221135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_Hawk94/pseuds/Night_Hawk94
Summary: What happened after Betty and Jughead burnt The Jones Family trailer ....





	For Tonight and Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Because this episode completely took over my thoughts, I had to get a story out of it. So here you go, a missing moment from me to you.

Letting the trailer go was her idea. 

 

Jughead liked to believe that he could think rationally during difficult times. That he could avoid those far fetched thoughts that can come from emotional times of crisis, but while having breakfast with Betty at Pops the morning of the school play, he quickly realized just how wrong he was.

 

His plan was “simple”; get Archie’s truck, tow the trailer away and hide it somewhere so that his mother could never find it again, and for a split second, while he stared down at his fresh mug of hot coffee, he thought that it was the best plan imaginable. That he was really on to something good until Betty, in that gentle and sympathetic manner she always used, pointed out that this might be more emotional than practical.

 

He frowned at that, taking a moment to drink in her words and understand them before he replied. It was something he’d started doing ever since she’d first told him about his mother and her nefarious plans to take over the drug trade around Riverdale.

 

He considered things carefully, coming to the conclusion that she was right about his plan. This was emotional. Personal even and in the end, it wasn’t hard to piece together why.

 

When he’d gotten the call that his families trailer had been found near Junkyard Steve’s place, he’d felt his heart immediately sink in his chest. He’d had his suspicions for a while now that his mother was using his childhood home as a cookhouse, but when he actually saw the vials on the kitchen countertop and the cabinets ripped from the walls like they had no previous value and meant absolutely nothing, all the emotions he’d been pushing deep down inside him finally started to surface.

 

What kind of mother would do this?

 

What kind of mother would lie and cheat and put her family through hell just for her own selfish gain, dragging everyone associated down along with her. He’d felt nauseous at the thought. His stomach churning - completely disgusted by how fucked up this whole situation was.

 

Alone and vulnerable, he’d allowed himself to breakdown and cry, seated on the vinyl floor with his head in his hands and his back pressed up against the front door.He stayed like that for a bit before he finally pulled out his phone and called Betty.

 

Just hearing her voice through the phone was enough to stop him from falling apart completely, but seeing her when she eventually arrived and going through every affirmation of their unconditional love and trust that already existed between them was the lifesaver he’d needed so badly. Everything had changed and in such a short space of time he’d basically lost almost everything he once held dear to him, except her. He still had her. and that was also enough.

 

“Because,” she said, pulling him from his thoughts then, “Another thing that you could do is -“

 

“- What?” he asked, desperate to hear her thoughts on the matter.

 

“You let it go.”

 

The way she said it, so gently and with so much care, was sufficient enough to breakthrough his wall of thoughts and reason with them. He’d never considered that option before. Letting the trailer go had been the last thing on his mind, but perhaps it was the right answer. Even if he managed to save his family and run his mother out of town, going back to that place after seeing it in such a desolate state would’ve be almost impossible for him to do. So yeah, maybe. Just maybe she was right, letting it go would be the better option. The safer option.

 

When he lifted his eyes back up to hers again, he couldn’t help but notice the mild worry that had taken up residence in them while she’d been patiently waiting for him to say something, so he smiled slightly, trusting and giving himself over her logic without question now.

 

“Well what did you have in mind, Betts?” he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table, ready and willing to listen.

 

~~~

 

Archie gave up the keys to his truck without so much as a fuss and with only two hours to spare until the school musical started they had to work fairly quickly.

 

The sun was already setting when they arrived, silhouetting the trailer against the colourful backdrop in the distance. It was fitting in a way, the prefect setting for what was about to go down or at least that’s what Jughead thought as he parked the truck a good distance away from what was now nothing more than a empty shell of his former home.

 

He stared at the trailers old facade, still trying to wrap his head around the notion that he was actually about to do this, but despite the small part of himself that didn’t condone this decision, he knew that there was no turning back, not when there was so much at stake now.

 

“You ready to do this?” He could feel Betty’s eyes on him, watching him closely, and even in the trucks poorly lit cab he could see the apprehension on her face when he looked at her.

 

Was he ready to do this? Truly ready to do this?

 

He’d asked himself that exact question so many times on the way over here that he’d actually lost count. No doubt, what they were about to do was completely and utterly reckless, but in the end he always told himself that it was more necessary than anything else. That it was absolutely necessary.

 

“Yeah,” he said, smiling somberly as he reached out and tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear, “Thank you again for doing this with me, Betts. I really appreciate it.”

 

“Of course.” she whispered back, clutching his hand with hers and giving it a gentle, but reassuring squeeze.

 

That was all he needed, the final push to set their plan to take away his mother’s potential foothold in Riverdale’s dormant drug trade in motion. Jughead closed his eyes then and nodded, releasing one last steadying breath before he opened the door and got out of the truck.

 

It took maybe twenty minutes or more to cover the floor of the trailer and its now bare walls in a strong coating of gasoline. He and Betty moved together from room to room drenching every surface they could find with the fuel, making sure they didn’t miss anything. They worked through it all until there was nothing left to do but go outside, strike a match and light the fire. 

 

Burning the trailer was also her idea.

 

After telling him about the fire she’d started in the living room of her old house and how it made her feel like she had a semblance of control over something for once, he agreedthat burning the trailer would be the best way to destroy everything his mother had done while also sending a pretty strong message. One that said that he wasn’t about to turn a blind eye or lay there and take the punches like Gladys hoped he would. Not this time.

 

He was the one to do it, for symbolic and personal reasons of course, and while it should’ve been the easiest thing in world to do, striking that match was actually the hardest thing he’d ever done.

 

His fingers were shaking so badly and his heart was racing with so much adrenaline, twisting with so much sadness and fear, that Betty needed to smooth her hand over his back and press her fingers into his tensed up muscles a few times before he was finally able to do it. Once he’d flicked the match though and the fire had caught and started to spread, all that fear and sadness he felt slowly started to disappear until it was nothing more than a dull thud in a small space of his heart.

 

“Geez, talk about watching your childhood go up in flames.” Jughead murmured as he and Betty hopped back into the truck, a hint of a smile forming on his lips when he picked up the milkshake they’d gotten from Pops on the way over here and took a sip.

 

He watched the flames as they grew and completely engulfed the trailer, slowly cracking and erasing something away that had been apart of his life for as long as he could remember. It was a vessel to him, one that once contained the memories of his childhood. All of them. Both good and bad, but strangely enough seeing it go up in flames or buckle under the small explosions didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would. Sure it was still painful to see, but it was also oddly satisfying in a way, especially when he remembered the reason why he’d done this in the first place.

 

“Are you okay?” he heard Betty ask then, not missing how measured and soft her voice sounded as she tried to gauge his thoughts and console him in anyway she could.

 

It was a fair question given the nature of what they had just done, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to answer it without sounding like he was lying to her and himself. It’s one thing to say open your mouth and something, but it’s a whole other thing entirely to say something and actually mean it. Was he okay? or was he just pretending to be? Only time would tell. Still, he needed to give her an answer so he chose a fairly neutral one.

 

“I’m surviving,” he looked at her, his blue eyes meeting her green ones for the first time in the last half hour that had passed. She nodded, clearly relieved, and when she turned her head back towards the blazing trailer again the only thought that crossed his mind was how beautiful she looked and how unbelievably lucky he was to have her beside him during such a poignant moment. So he told her. “Because you’re here with me.”

 

When Betty looked at him again and her lips pulled into that crooked smile he knew so well and loved, it suddenly dawned on Jughead that it was only appropriate that she was here tonight, sitting beside him in this truck, because that trailer meant something to her as well. It was where they’d exchanged their first “I love you’s” and made love together for the first time as well, not to mention the countless other moments they’d shared there on quiet nights and soft mornings. It was the site of some of the biggest milestones in their relationship. It was as much a part of them as they were and in that respect it would be missed. Deeply so.

 

Just like so many other moments before this one, something in her eyes changed then, their usual softness and warmth shifting into something more desperate and desirous with every spilt second they spent staring at each other until the tension between them finally dissolved along with their resolve.

 

He’s not exactly sure who moved first. Maybe it was her. Maybe it was him, but as soon as their lips met nothing else really mattered beyond that.

 

It was a deep series of kisses, bruising, intoxicating and all consuming. The kind of kisses they usually reserved for moments like these when they were completely alone and could get lost in each other for a while. He relished in the pressure of her lips moving against his, drinking in the sweet taste of the strawberry milkshake she’d been drinking earlier that still lingered in her mouth. Her hands were everywhere and so were his, pulling at the clothes that restricted their movements and intentions in any way. Her jeans, their jackets and his t-shirt, all of them were shedded off as quickly as they possibly could be.

 

When she shifted her position and moved within the confines of the trucks cab to straddle his lap next, he briefly considered telling her to stop, vaguely recalling somewhere in the back of his head that they still had a play to get to, but her mouth was back on his, kissing him thoroughly again, before he could even catch his breath let alone try to speak. He could feel his body stirring with desire and want, his heart pounding rapidly in his chest and his jeans becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second when she started rocking her hips against his gently.

 

Jughead groaned into her mouth and smoothed his hands under her shirt and up the length of her back, wishing that he could take the garment off and feel even more of her soft skin against his, but there was no time to take things slow or to build up the mood up like they preferred to do whenever they did this.

 

If they were really going to do this they would have to be fast. Driven only by need and nothing else.

 

“Betts? -“ Jughead murmured as a question, sucking in a sharp breath a second later when she moved her hand down the length of his body and brushed it over his hardening length through the rough material of his jeans.

 

“What?” she whispered, keeping her forehead pressed firmly against his.

 

“I don’t ... I’m pretty sure I don’t have a condom in my wallet.” In fact, he was certain that he didn’t have any, remembering that he used his last about a week ago and hadn’t replaced it yet.

 

“It’s okay. I haven’t missed a pill or anything.”

 

He settled his hands on her bare thighs and pulled back slightly so that he could look at her, trying to read the expression on her face that was barely visible in the faint orange glow coming from the fire outside.

 

“Are you sure?” he asked. Even with her taking the pill they always tried to be cautious when having sex. Only allowing themselves slip up maybe once or twice when rare moments like these occurred.

 

Betty bit her lip and nodded, leaning down to kiss him again.

 

“I just want you, Juggie. I need you. Nothing else really matters right now” she mumbled, reaching down between them to undo his belt buckle and pop the button on his jeans. She rose up onto her knees then, high enough so that he could lift his hips as well and tug his pants down without any issues.

 

Once he was free from his restraints and she had lowered herself down onto him, time practically stopped for him like it always did. He closed his eyes and gripped her hips tightly, smiling against her neck when he heard her breath hitch in her throat. He gave her a moment to adjust, pressing the tips of his fingers into her skin when she moved her hips slightly.

 

“Fuck Betts,” he gasped at the incredible feeling even the tiniest movements she made created, already spinning closer to the edge than he should be, “You feel so amazing baby. So incredible.”

 

He tilted his head upwards then, his lips blindly searching for hers and Betty pressed herself into him when he found them, her fingers running through his thick hair as she moved above him, rolling her hips in a steady, but unbelievably gratifying way. He met every movement of hers with shallow thrusts of his own, his breathing growing heavier and heavier by the minute, mixing and mingling with hers.

 

“I’m - I’m so close, Juggie.” Betty whined softy, breathlessly, her one hand latching onto the car seat to keep her steady. “Are you?”

 

Jughead nodded.

 

He was close. So ridiculously close to the edge of ecstasy as well. He could feel the temperature in the cab - aided by the raging fire still burning outside - starting rise as their pace suddenly quickened, building them both towards their release. She gasped and moaned his name almost incoherently when he lowered his hand between them and touched her. Something he always did when he was worried that one of them would be left behind.

 

“Let go, Betts,” he murmured when he felt her walls starting to pull and tighten around him, “It’s okay baby, I’ve got you.”

 

He watched her fall apart, feeling her thighs tightened against his legs and her body convulse above him as she breathed out the intense pleasure she suddenly felt coursing through her veins, filling up all the available spaces she still had left inside her. He followed right after her, managing a few more thrusts before the coil inside him finally snap as well and his hips jerked unevenly, her name slipping from his mouth in a series of soft, breathless sighs against her neck.

 

Once it was done. Once their breathing had slowed down again and their heartbeats had returned to a semi reasonable speed, Betty shifted in his lap and melted into him when Jughead wrapped his arms around her and held her close, their bodies warm and slick with sweat now as they cradled each other for a moment.

 

“You good?” Jughead asked, still sounding a little out of breath.

 

“Yeah,” Betty nodded, “I’m good. Although I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to go out on that stage later, I feel pretty exhausted.”

 

He grinned broadly. “Please don’t say that or Kevin really will try to kill me if he finds out that I incapacitated one of his Heathers on the opening night of his play.”

 

“Incapacitated?” her tone was playful, tinged with mocked offense, “I think that might be too strong a word.”

 

“You sure about that?” He asked, teasing her when she failed to stifle a small yawn.

 

Betty smacked his arm then and they laughed together warmly, the happy sound breaking up the silence around them for a few minutes until she leaned back a little to look at him, his stomach tightening when she did. He would never get tired of seeing that - of seeing her look at him like he was the only thing in the world that mattered.

 

“You know I love you, right?” she said quietly, smiling down at him.

 

Jughead grinned as well, leaning up to press his mouth to hers in a firm, but sweet kiss. “I do and you know I love you as well. No matter what?”

 

“No matter what.” Betty repeated with a nod. She giggled softly and he let her snuggle back into him for a couple minutes longer, neither or them wanting to move or leave just yet.

 

There might’ve been a time when a part of him would’ve questioned the authenticity of conversation like that, but after everything they’d been though tonight and since the start of their relationship, there was no doubt in his mind anymore. He loved her. She loved him. They’d chosen each other. The rest didn’t matter.

 

He focused his gaze on the fire again, watching the embers burn and the flames lick at the dark sky in anger. He didn’t know what would happen next. He didn’t know how his mother would react to this or what her next move would be or how they would stop it or if they even could stop it. He didn’t know a lot of things, but then again most of the people who live in this world don’t.

 

He knew that a lot of uncertainty lay ahead,but if there was one thing he was certain about right now, it was her and everything she made him feel. He wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without her standing there beside him or without the conviction she always had in. She was a rock in the middle of the very vast ocean - the only thing he could count on to save him, to stop himself from drowning in it all and for now that was more than enough.

For tonight and forever, that was all he would ever need.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading ... I’d love to know your thoughts so leave a comment if you’d like!!


End file.
